New mobile units to bring taxman closer to the people

GATSIBO – Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) has introduced a new rural based programme meant to bring more people into the tax net. The new move dubbed ‘mobile’ units will facilitate taxpayers walking long distances to clear their tax dues. Talking to The New Times during the recent tax payer’s day celebrations in Gatsibo district, RRA’s Commissioner General, Mary Baine said that the programme will see RRA tax collectors moving deep into the villages to collect taxes from tax payers. ‘RRA has initiated this programme to facilitate our taxpayers in remote areas who walk long distances to our offices. We are doing this in line with the government’s decentralization programme,’ she said. Baine said that there have been few RRA centres in villages, making the work of tax collectors challenging. She added that the programme has already started working in various parts of the Western Province and RRA is working with the Private Sector Federation (PSF) to fully implement it. ‘We have started the programme in the districts of Western province. We are doing it in collaboration with the PSF and we mainly target market days because that is when our tax collectors meet many taxpayers,’ she said. Tom Rwagasana, the head of the PSF in Eastern Province said that the new programme is timely. ‘The new programme will help many traders in this province…most of them have been leaving their businesses behind only to walk for miles to RRA offices,’ he said. Ends